1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to free-size caps with size adjusting bands and, more particularly, to a multi-effect free-size cap, designed to be primarily and manually adjusted in size by its size adjusting band and to be finely and automatically adjusted in size by the elasticity of a stretchable woven fabric of both the crown and the sweat band, thus allowing a user to feel comfortable while wearing the cap, the stretchable woven fabric of the crown being specifically designed to have a high elasticity in both wefts and warps, thus being prevented from easily wrinkling in a vertical or horizontal direction while having a desired automorphism.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, free-size caps or caps of the one-size-fits-all type, designed to be manufactured at a single reference size and to be commonly usable by users having different head sizes within a range, are classified into the following two types.
In a conventional free-size cap of the first type, a rounded cutout, having a size of 3.about.4 inches, is formed on the edge of the crown at the rear end, with a size adjusting band and a buckle being mounted to both ends of the cutout. In this cap, the cutout, the band and the buckle form a size adjusting means.
In a free-size cap of the second type, the cap is designed to be free from such a size adjusting means, but to be commonly usable by users, having head sizes different from each other within a difference of about 2.5 inches (6.35 cm) as disclosed in Korean Patent No. 92219 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,540. In the above cap, both the crown and the sweat band are made of a stretchable woven fabric that is expandable in a weft direction or a horizontal direction.
However, the first type of conventional free-size cap with a size adjusting band is problematic in that it is almost impossible for a user to precisely adjust the size of the size adjusting band in accordance with his head size. Therefore, when the size adjusting band is undesirably adjusted in a way such that the size of the cap is smaller than that of a user's head, the cap severely squeezes the head, thus making the user feel uncomfortable after wearing the cap for a lengthy period of time. On the other hand, when the size adjusting band is undesirably adjusted in a way such that the size of the cap is larger than that of a user's head, the cap is easily removed from the head in the wind. The cap, with the size adjusting band undesirably adjusted to be larger than the size of a user's head, may cause safety hazards when the user drives a car, walks along a road, or climbs a rocky mountain.
In the above free-size cap with such a size adjusting band, the crown is made of a non-stretchable woven fabric, thus failing to accomplish a desired automorphism or to meet a requirement of users, particularly, young people, wanting to show their personalities with tightly fitted caps. Such a non-stretchable woven fabric crown has another problem in that it is very difficult to prevent the crown from wrinkling or to remove wrinkles from the crown.
On the other hand, the second type of conventional free-size cap, disclosed in Korean Patent No. 92219 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,540, is problematic in that it is almost impossible to further adjust the size of the cap as desired after the cap is worn on a user's head. That is, this type of cap does not allow a user to slightly tighten or loosen the cap after wearing the cap on his head. Since both the crown and the sweat band of this type of cap are made of a stretchable woven fabric designed to be expandable in a weft direction or a horizontal direction, it is very difficult to prevent the crown from wrinkling in the weft direction or to remove weft directional wrinkles from the crown. Another problem of the above cap resides in that the cap fails to accomplish a desired automorphism or to meet a requirement of users, particularly, young people, wanting to show their personalities with tightly fitted caps in the same manner as that described for the first type of free-size cap.